The AMD designs are substantially cheaper than the Ivy Bridge ones. HP's most affordable "Sleekbook" line will first launch with higher priced Intel designs, but in June will be expanded to include less costly models powered by AMD's new Trinity accelerated processing unit (APU), which features "discrete quality" on-die graphics.

The body designs for all the models are relatively similar with sleek brushed metal (black or silver available) cases colored in black or silver hues. The Ivy Bridge models do not come with discrete graphics by default, but customers can pay extra to get a discrete GPU. Larger hard drives or more memory are among the other customization options consumers can pony up extra cash for.

Ultimately, the AMD vs. Intel Ivy Bridge thin notebooks are shaping up to be much as what thought -- the Intel will be slightly thinner and lighter, but will be well over $1,000 USD with discrete graphics added. By contrast, an AMD Sleekbook with matching performance (other than the slower HDD) will start at ~$600. Build quality (packaging) will be almost identical for both competing designs, other than size and weight.

DailyTech's poll indicated that the majority of people would prefer an AMD ultrathin to an Intel one (the vote was nearly 2-to-1 with over 3,500 votes cast), given the price and graphics difference, assuming battery life and build quality were the same. Of course the majority will have to wait a month to get their wish, while the vocal enthusiast minority can get their Ivy Bridge Ultrabook dream machine today.

HP's new ultrathins and similar ilk from rivals all closely parrot Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iconic MacBook Air design, which was arguably the first true metal body-encased ultrathin. When the Air launched in 2008 many mocked its lack of an internal optical media drive and predicted weak sales. After Apple wowed with MacBook Air sales, the tune quickly changed, as evidenced by the fact that the Envy Sleekbooks, Envy Ultrabooks, and Envy Spectre XT carry nary an internal optical media drive.

"If you look at the last five years, if you look at what major innovations have occurred in computing technology, every single one of them came from AMD. Not a single innovation came from Intel." -- AMD CEO Hector Ruiz in 2007